


Curiosity Killed The...Atronach?

by Lizardbrain



Series: More Love For Onmund [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Budding Love, F/M, Flame Atronach, Fluff, One Shot, Romance, holy shitballs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 23:31:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16942794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizardbrain/pseuds/Lizardbrain
Summary: Bruna couldn't wait to show Onmund her newest discovery.And they wouldn't even have to venture far for it was right there on the College's ground - or rather, beneath.Starting this series of one shots of Onmund x Bruna off with some sweet fluff.





	Curiosity Killed The...Atronach?

**\- College of Winterhold -**

 

There was almost no sound from the person tiptoeing across the first floor of the Hall of Attainment.

“Psst! Onmund!”

The young Nord looked up from the book he was reading to see whom the urgent whisper belonged to.

“Bruna? What-?”

“Pssst!” she pressed her forefinger against her lips, giving him an insistent look. “Not so loud.” She looked around if anyone had heard them but it was still quiet; those who were not sleeping were at least not roaming about the hall.

Beckoning Bruna urged him on, “Come, I have to show you something!” 

Though whispering, Onmund could hear the excitement in her voice as clearly as he could see it in her face. And it was delightfully contagious, sending a coursing warmth through his body. 

It had started from the first day when she had arrived at the College a few months ago. Master Tolfdir was telling them about the planned expedition to Saarthal and she got that treacherous glimmer in her eyes like a child who was told that they were allowed to eat as much sweet treats as they wanted.

He chuckled to himself at the remembrance. She had a way to infect others with her adventurous mood and merry nature. Returning his attention to her, he closed his book and smiled. By Talos, she was really cute the way she peeked around the corner at him like a little mouse. Her whole behaviour would've appeared less suspicious if she had just entered his room.

She raised her eyebrows and shot him a wide-eyed, expecting look. Onmund curtly nodded, then stood up to follow. But instead of leaving the hall through the courtyard-facing entrance she led them to the roof exit door. He diligently sneaked behind her until they were outside.

A gush of wind greeted them with a very pleasant handful of snowflakes right in their faces.

“Ugh-! I may be a Nord but I'm not always that fond of snow and cold.” Onmund wiped a hand across his face.

Bruna followed suit, commenting theatrically, “Oh no, how disappointing! Here I thought you were a true sturdy Nord! But seems you're just as much Nord as I am!”

A laugh escaped him. “That would at least explain my affinity and ardour for the arcane arts.”

She gave him a quick once-over before answering, her hand hovering over the handle of the door leading to to the Hall of Countenance. “Nah, you're way too tall. Even if you were only half Breton.”

He shoved her playfully. “And you are way too small for a half Nord.”

Bruna gave a braking laugh, then pushed the door open.

 

~~

 

He started to get the picture why they had taken the apparently more inconvenient way over the roof: that route was seldom used and thus, sneaking downstairs they had an advantage at looking out for anyone who might've spotted them. But why it was important to stay hidden from other college members was still a mystery to him.

Oh, Talos. She didn't plan anything illicit, did she?!

She stopped, holding her right arm out to the side to halt him as well.

As if trying to become part of the staircase's stone pillar she glued the left side of her face to it and peered around. After some moments she slightly turned her head, giving him a nod.

The upper floor of the Hall of Countenance was as quiet as a graveyard.

 _Snoooooore_ – or almost.

Bruna pressed both her hands over her mouth and nose to prevent a snort from escaping. Onmund ogled her nervously.

'By the Nine, please don't let her lose it,' he silently begged. 

He dreaded the consequences being caught lurking around like this. After all, they were still novices and had nothing to do in the Hall of Countenance at this hour. The hall was reserved for the teachers, an higher level apprentices at best. Adding to it, that whatever Bruna was up to required staying undetected which wasn't helping to ease any of his tension.

They would be in for quite a reprimand.

A light nudge from her elbow to his ribs brought him back and they resumed their cautious descent. 

“Ah, those imbeciles... No one takes Restoration seriously... No one takes _me_ seriously...” 

Oh, damn! What was Colette doing here!? Wasn't her room supposed to be on the first floor? 

Oh, holy troll balls, they're dead. 

With shock-widened eyes, arms half-way up, and a twisted face Bruna whirled around and signalled panicked yet as silently as possible to retreat. Onmund, at the same time, had a matching expression and had almost instantly, without Bruna's prompt, turned on his heel, and now they shuffled hurriedly the steps back up enough to remain unseen.

Fortunately, Colette was so immersed in her complaining muttering that she didn't take even the slightest notice of them.

They waited a couple of minutes, just for good measure. When they were sure they really hadn't been noticed, each let slowly out a relieved breath.

After stealing a glance Bruna faced Onmund and mouthed an 'All clear', then inched forward. A last scanning peek to the first floor and she scurried to the dead end of the staircase, halting in front of a trapdoor.

Onmund's questioning look was only regarded with a cheeky smile before Bruna dropped into a crouch and carefully tried to pull the lid up, hoping the creaking wasn't loud enough to draw any kind of attention. She held the lid open. Both peered furtively over their shoulders once more, then at each other. A final wordless agreement passed between them, then Bruna climbed downward, Onmund soon following suit.

 

~~

 

“What is this place?” Onmund looked around sceptically. 

“I'm not so sure myself. But seems like no one has been down here in quite a while. Isn't it strange? Such a place, right beneath our feet and we have never heard of it.” There it was again, that jumping excitement of hers.

“Have you been down here before?” His eyes fixed on a strange, fetish-like composition of animal bones behind a brazier. 

“No, not really. I only opened the trapdoor once and hung my head down to catch a glimpse,” she quipped. 

“Then _maybe_ you shouldn't rush that much,” his hand settled softly on her shoulder for emphasis. “After all, we don't know what...lurks here...” Onmund's nose scrunched up disapprovingly at the mixture of cold, moist and mouldy air. 

“After all,” she copied him, “aren't you curious?” and she was back to her childlike, adventurous tone, slowing down and falling into step with him.

“Come on, you can't be _that_ overly cautious when you even nagged Master Tolfdir about showing you some practical spells.” She gave him a friendly poke to the side and winked.

Chuckling he shook his head. “Alright, yes. I am curious. _But_ ,” he gave her a sideways glance and a crooked smile, “it wouldn't be advisable to simply waltz through this vault. Just because it _seems_ like no one has been down here in years,” he paused, turned his frontside fully towards her and slowly raised his hands, “doesn't mean they are not still heeere.” His voice dropped to a mock ghostly tone and he suddenly lowered his hands to her sides, tickling her lightly. 

“Stohop!” Bruna tried to suppress her giggling. 

Onmund ceased his tickling, grinning mirthfully at her blushing form. His fingertips prickled from the deliberate touch.

“Not so loud, Bruna,” he dallying admonished her. 

“Aw, you, “ she gave him a weak slap, her cheeks still heated, “trollbutt!”

Hand placed over his heart he looked at her in mock hurt. “Oh dear, really now? Trollbutt? I'm offended by your lack of inspirational creativity.”

Grinning she faced away. “Let's keep on going.”

He really liked their little bantering exchanges.

It was not like he – or she, for that matter – hadn't similar ones with J'zargo. The Khajiit certainly had a great sense of humour. Sometimes even Brelyna was in for a good joke.

But with Bruna it was, well, different. He liked the way she would sometimes curve her rosy lips into a mischievous smile when she thought of a new friendly insult that could've been right out of a children's book. He liked the way she always looked so prettily at him... He really liked...

“Onmund?” 

“Huh?!”

By Talos... He prayed that his facial colour didn't give away that she had caught him amidst more than friendly thoughts.

“You feeling well?” she asked sheepishly. Great, so he _was_ probably blushing.

He quickly cleared his throat. “Y-yes! Yes, of course, I-,” a cracking hiss – a sound much like cracking ice in the sun – echoed loudly from the floor they were headed to.

“Dammit!” Bruna hissed and quickly ducked. She tugged at Onmund's robes who got the message and squatted down. 

“What's going on?” he asked confused.

“Ice Wraith.”

“Shit.” 

They honed in. There was the hissing again.

“This is how we will do it,” she started decidedly, doing her best to ignore their proximity to each other, “You ready your most efficient destructive fire spell and I will summon a flame atronach.”

When she noticed him gawking, she quickly added, “I'm not half Breton for nothing. Remember? Bretons have a knack for Conjuration.” She inched forward, concentrating her magicka in her palms. 

She managed to summon the flame atronach at the end of the short stairway, drawing the complete attention of the ice wraith to it. Onmund sidestepped her and shot a good deal of firebolts at the frost creature, delivering the finishing blow. 

“You know how to summon an atronach?!” it broke out of him after a short while. 

“Onmund...” she said embarrassedly, eyes cast down, “summoning a flame atronach is the easiest to learn...” 

“Yeah, out of the whole atronach summoning,” he said bewildered, “but mastering any kind of atronach summoning spell is in itself...WOW.” 

Looking up in the middle of his speech had been a mistake. She was not in the least prepared for the admiration shining in his eyes and it made her blush heavily. Seeing her reddening cheeks let Onmund's heartbeat quicken in response and he felt the familiar warmth creep up on his own features.

“You...you looked pretty smashing yourself.” Bruna muttered under his scrutinising eyes. 

He blinked rapidly. What had she just said?

He must have misheard. Smashing? Him? His own blush became very apparent. The tall Nord rubbed his neck, looking away shyly. “Only a few firebolts. Nothing special about that.”

They stood like this awhile.

Well, better to proceed before the situation got any more awkward. “Shall we continue?” Onmund smirked.

Bruna smiled back. “Yeah, let's go.”

 

~~

 

“Look at this!” Bruna's voice was filled with astonishment. “This looks kind of like a...like a...” 

“Like a giant enchanting tabletop.” Onmund offered, sounding equally amazed.

He had an inkling what this place could be. “Have you ever heard of the Midden?” 

“The Midden?” The redhead inclined her head questioningly to the side. 

“There are rumours...or, well, _maybe_ I overheard some of the older apprentices and teachers talking,” he shot her a cheeky smile when she regarded him with a mock shocked expression. “However, talk was that many decades ago one of the disciples, a Dunmer, was seemingly working in the Midden – a place below the College ground – and never told anyone about his work, let alone allow anyone down there...or rather, here.” His look drifted to the oversized pastiche of an enchanting table. “I'm almost sure we're in the Midden...” 

Suddenly Bruna clapped her hands together. “Let's explore! Further! I wanna know what that enchanting thing really is! It surely was that disciple _mer_ 's secret research!” 

How could he possibly decline her request when she made such a gleeful face. “Sure, why not.” Onmund shrugged and tried to sound nonchalant. 

His supposition was soon confirmed by the book they found on a table to the left of the semi-open room resembling an oriel where the strange enchanting platform sat. 

“... _something called the 'Atronach Forge'_ ” Bruna read aloud, Osmund watching over her shoulder and reading along. 

“'Atronach Forge',” they said slowly in unison. Their eyes wandered to the right, then to look at each other.

“'Atronach Forge.” It came out more emphasised. The intent look they exchanged said it all. They quickly read on.

“It's an Atronach Forge!” they exclaimed when they finished reading the rest of the anonymous notes. 

“But I didn't like the last part...'Be ready for battle' – doesn't sound so invting...” Onmund's voice drifted off at the end as he sensed the growing restlessness of his fellow apprentice. “You're not gonna let this go, no matter what, hm?” He raised a brow. 

She bit her lower lip, then exploded. “Oh, please! Let's try it! Just once! Look!” she gestured to some fire salts and rubies on the table, “someone, probably Mr Whoever's nephew, even left us some of the required ingredients!” She clutched the upper part of his robes. “Pleeeease!”

Onmund desperately tried to get a hold of himself. The way she clung to him affected him more than he would've thought. And if she clung to him like this only for the sake of an experiment, then just how would she cling to him if there was something...more...alluring involved...

He gulped. “A-alright...”

What a smile she shot him! Yes, indulging her was definitely worth it.

 

~~

 

“So, we place a portion of fire salts and a ruby inside this box...”, Bruna licked her lips, “and then we pull this handle here...”

A blueish purple vortex vurst into life in the middle of the platform.

The small half Breton beamed up at Onmund's flabbergasted face. “It worked!”

“Yes, it worked!”

Their triumphant cheer died down pretty soon, though, when the manifested flame atronach raised its arms with charged fireballs.

“Oh, shit!”

“Molag Balls!”

They jumped to the sides out of the fiery missiles' trajectory. The fireball burst asunder on the opposite wall.

“'Be ready for battle' indeed,” Onmund breathed, reading a strong lightning bolt spell. It took him a good deal of effort and magicka but he knew it was worth the powerful attack it guaranteed.

A quick glance at Bruna and her affirmative nod later, he got up from his ducked position and let his destruction spell loose. It stunned the flame atronach long enough for Bruna to attack without the atronach being able to dodge it.

Onmund thought it would work for him just as it did moments ago for Bruna and broke cover. Only half of the charged lightning made its way to the atronach before he was struck down by the impetus of the atronach's shot and the searing pain spreading over his left shoulder.

Bruna watched in horror his form fall to ground.

She had to act. Now. She gathered as much air as possible in her lungs, “FUS! RO!”

Luckily the flame atronach hadn't moved much away from the platform so that Bruna's Shout not only staggered but also successfully smashed it in the wall behind. She conjured her own flame atronach, not caring that it was less effective, and sent spark spells to the enemy creature.

She easily dodged a fireball for the atronach's focus was distracted by her own fire sprite. Not long after, the hostile atronach went down, finally defeated.

Bruna quickly retreated to where Onmund was still lying on his back, and dove for cover in the right moment when the atronach exploded into a fiery, sparking dome. Seconds after the cracking sound of her own sprite dissolving resonated.

Ever so carefully she lifted herself up, opened her eyes and looked at Onmund. When she had rushed to safety she had purposefully draped herself over Onmund – mostly his head – to protect him from the explosion. Before she could utter a word, his agonised moan brought her attention to his left shoulder.

His robes were scorched at this part and his shoulder lay free, the burn wound looking raw and glistening from wound fluid. She glanced worriedly at him. “I'm so sorry, Onmund...” She cleared her throat. “This will probably sting... I'll try to be careful.” Bruna tentatively plucked off the singed cloth before it would stick to the wound, and cut his robes further open to get an overview of the damage's extents.

All the while Onmund observed her quietly, though he couldn't suppress one hiss or the other. He knew he shouldn't feel this happy but seeing her fussing over him this much, it made his heart squeeze longingly.

She plucked off a fairly resistive piece of his robe, making him flinch in the process. “Sorry,” she mumbled guiltily.

He raised his right hand to her cheek, brushing strands of scarlet hair aside. “It's not that bad. Only twinges annoyingly.” He smiled at her tiredly, nonetheless winking in a flirtatious manner. He chuckled inwardly; seemed like the drowsiness that came with bigger wounds heightened his boldness.

The soft, warm touch of his manly hand paralysed her momentarily and her tummy filled with fluttering butterflies. “I-...Restora-...Erm...I will heal you now!” she squeaked and immediately hovered her hands, glowing golden from the healing spell, over the wounded tissue.

The longer she worked her healing magic, the more she felt his gaze on her, and the more she was certain her face was turning into an oversized tomato.

He hummed at the soothing and pleasant feeling of the spell. He peered at her hands, wondering how they would feel in his body, his skin.

It took him a moment to realise that her hands had stopped, the magic glow gone. He looked up.

“There, all done,” Bruna smiled in relief, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. “I have to thank Colette later.” She lazily stood up and brushed down her robes before she lend Onmund a hand at getting up.

“We, err...should maybe head back before anyone notices our absence,” he suggested, clenching his hands to get his circulation working – not only in _certain_ body areas.

“Mhm,” she agreed, still a bit shaken – but what from exactly she wasn't so sure herself.

 

~~

 

It was early morning at the time they climbed out of the Midden. But as sedate as the College mostly was, there were hardly any people wandering about.

Or that's what they believed, at least, when they managed to leave the Hall of Countenance unnoticed. But as soon as they entered their own hall, they were spotted by their two fellow novices, startling on the spot.

J'zargo instantly put on a wide, toothy grin at their slightly dishevelled appearance, not to mention Onmund's questionable state of dress. “J'zargo thinks you have found a very effective spell to shorten the night-time, yes?” He snickered gloatingly.

Brelyna joined him, her expression matching the cat-man's. “That must have been...” she formed a paw with her hand and made a scratching motion, “hell of an _exercise._ ” She wiggled her eyebrows.

The barking laughter from the Khajiit and the Dunmer filled the Hall of Attainment as Bruna and Onmund each fled to their own rooms with bent heads, and faces glowing red like steamed mudcrab legs from embarrassment.

**Author's Note:**

> The first time I played Skyrim with my Argonian Dragonborn and dismissed Onmund as my follower (we were at Lakeview Manor), it felt like this:
> 
> Onmund: "It's time for us to part ways." - Onmund starts to walk off  
> Me: ...w-wait, lemme take you home... *feeling queasy* -> fast travel to the College
> 
> I didn't feel comfortable to let him travel all the way back by himself. What if...if a rabbit attacked him?! XD


End file.
